Luke w



(No Model.)

L. W. KENNEY.

ANKLE SUPPORT FOR SKATES. No. 477,550. Patented June 21, 1892.

INVENTOH A TTOHNE Y8.

WITNESSES v iJNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

LUKE w. KENNEY, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

AN KLE-SUPPORT FOR SKATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 477,550, dated June 21, 1892.

Application filed April 9, 1802. Serial No. 428,515. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUKE W. KENNEY, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ankle-Supports for Skates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an ankle-support for skates, and has for its object to provide a device which is exceedingly simple and oapable of being applied to skates of any pattern or style, and, further, to so construct the support that it may be light and may be used without proving an impediment to the skater or giving any discomfort whatsoever.

Another object of the invention is to form the support in such manner that motion in direction of the heel and toe of the skatemay be freely exercised and whereby a lateral motion liable to dislocate the ankle, strain, or otherwise injure it may be prevented.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the vlews.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a skate having the support applied thereto and illustrating the attachment of the support. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the support detached from the skate. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a portion of the heel plate and through a portion of the body of the device, the section being taken, practically, on the line 3 3 of Fig. 4; and Fig. at is a section taken, practically, on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3, showing the flange of the heel-plate in front elevation.

The support is adapted to be secured to the heel-plate A of the skate in such manner that it may be readily applied to the plate or disengaged therefrom, and to that end preferably the front portion of the heel-plate is provided with an upwardly-turned flange A.

The support consists of anessentially-U- shaped body 10. This body is made of metal as light as possible consistent with strength and is ordinarily more or less flattened at its upper end, as indicated at 11 in the drawings. In the lower portion of the body 10 two threaded apertures are produced, adapted for the reception of set-screws 12, the said screws being ordinarily manipulated through the medium of a wrench or a key, and in order that the body of the device may be expeditiously and conveniently secured to a skate recesses 13 are made in the flange of the heel-plate to receive the set-screws. By these means to disconnect the body of the device from. the skate it is simply necessary to remove one set-screw and loosen the other. Upon the inner face of the bow-section of the body 10 a sharp flange 10 is located, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, this flange being adapted to enter the heel of the boot or shoe to which the skate is to be secured.

The support, in addition to the body 10, consists of two yokes 14: and 15, oppositely disposed and ordinarily constructed of a light wire. These yokes are pivoted in the upper flattened ends of the body, the pivotal connection being effected in a manner enabling the yokes to be bent one downward in direction of the heel and the other in direction of the toe of the skate when the support is applied. The front yoke 14 has secured to it a strap 16, the ends of which strap are provided with apertures 17 This strap is attached to the forward or inner face of the yoke, and a second strap 18 is attached to the rear or inner face of the opposed yoke, and this latter strap is provided at or near its extremities with buckles 19. The straps are attached at or near their centers to the yokes, and in lieu of buckles for fastening the two straps together any equivalent device for uniting them may be employed.

In operation the bottom of the U-body 10, which has its side faces flattened at that point, is brought in engagement with the inner face of the flange of the heel-plate, the heads of the set-screws being at the front or outer side of the body. When the body is in position upon the heel-plate, the set-screws will enter the recesses 13 in the flanges of the plate, and the screws are turned by means of a suitable implement until their heads are brought into close, positive, and frictional engagement with the outer face of the flange, as shown in Fig. 1.

When the skate is worn, the body 10 at its lower end will be beneath the instep and the held in an upwardly-inclined position around the ankle by uniting the ends of the strap 16 wlth the ends of the strap 18, thereby forming a belt, as it were, around the top of the shoe or the ankle above the shoe.

This device, when not required for use, may be quickly disengaged from the skate, fold-T ed up, and placed in the pocket, and it is evident from the foregoing description that its application to the skate may be'expeditiously ertures at both of its ends, and asecond strap and conveniently made.

The device is exceedingly simple, d arable-,f To apply itrequires no'other. change in the construction of a skate than the formation of a front flange upon the heeland economic.

plate and the recessing of the flange for the reception of the set-screws.

When the device isgworn, it will support the ankle and enable a skater with comfort to. travel long distances, and, as its name im-@ plies, will protect the ankle by effectually pivoted upon the upper ends of the body, facsupporting it.

Having thus described my invention, 1:

the yokes facing one another, and fastening 5 devices carried by the yokes, as and for the purpose specified.

2. -An ankle-support for skates, consisting, essentially, of a U shaped body, yokes pivoted to the upper ends of the body, facing each other, and capable of being carried downward at opposite sides of the body, and straps connected With the yokes and adapted for uniting them and holding them in a predetermined position, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. An ankle-support for skates, consisting of an essentially-U-shaped body provided with set-screws in its lower portion, yokes pivotally attached to the upper ends of the body, facing one another, and adapted to be folded down against opposite sides of the body, astrap secured to one yoke, having apattached to the opposite yoke and carrying buckles at its ends, substantiallyas shown and described. 7

l. The combination, with the heel-plate of a skate, provided with an upwardly-turned apertured flange at one end,-of an ankle-support consisting of an essentially-Ll-sliaped body, set-screws located in the iower portion of the body and adapted to enter the apertures in the flange of the heel-plate, yokes ing-one another, and capable of folding downward at opposite sides of the body, and strapfastening devices secured to the yokes, as

and for the purpose specified.

LUKE W. KENNEY. Witnesses:

PETER C. CoNRoY, MARY A. CoNRoY. 

